The present invention is in the area of apparatus and methods including software for accessing information from the Internet, and providing the accessed information to an end user. The invention has, in various embodiments, particular applicability to portable computers powered by batteries and the like used as field units for Internet access.
There are many motivations to computer development, depending largely on targeted customer groups. For example, a certified public accountant needs to run applications having to do with accounting, taxes, financial planning, and the like, while a fiction writer may wish only to use a computer as a word processor. The kind of system one of these people might choose to own may be vastly different from the type the other would purchase. Manufacturers plan their research and development to produce products that appeal to their targeted customer bases.
Even with the considerable differences in needs between different consumer groups, there are still many commonly desirable traits in computer development. For example, regardless of the ultimate functionality of a particular sort of computer, a low cost to manufacture is a desirable characteristic. Another desirable characteristic is portability. There are advantages to being able to easily move one""s computing tool from place to place, and even greater advantages to having a portable computer small enough to carry in a pocket or purse.
Even though portability and small size is generally desirable, power and functionality are always desirable as well, and these characteristics are competitive. Conventionally and historically one pays a penalty for small size and portability.
One of the penalties typically paid is functionality as related to battery life. That is, if one uses a powerful and fast CPU in a portable computer, the size of the battery must be quite large, and life between charges will be relatively short. For example, it can be shown in general that 100 grams of battery weight, filly charged, will power about 5xc3x97108 instructions. It is to be understood that this is a general figure, and may vary somewhat for different CPUs, types of batteries, and the like.
Given the figure above relating battery weight to a number of instructions for illustrative purposes, if a portable computer is to be provided with ability to execute relatively high-overhead applications, such a HTML files in Internet applications, the CPU for the portable computer will have to operate at 1 to 2 MIPS (million instructions per second). Assuming 1 MIPS, a battery weight of 100 g. will discharge in about 8 minutes. A five hundred gram (a little over one pound) battery will provide a life between charges of about 41 minutes.
It is seen, then, that as applications and desired functions for personal computers become more sophisticated, it becomes ever more difficult to provide theses applications and functions for small, personal, battery-powered computers.
There are some ways that battery life may be extended or optimized. For example, power-management techniques may extend battery life by 1.5, use of low-power integrated circuit technology can add another 1.5, sophisticated electrical storage technology another 1.5, and solar recharge perhaps another 1.2. The net multiplier, using every means of help is about 5, so a 500 g battery will then power such a computer for about three hours. Five hours is still a relatively short battery lifetime, so sophisticated operations for small, portable computers, such as World Wide Web (WWW) browsing on the Internet, are not, until the time of the present invention, very practical.
Further to the above discussion, as the global network of connected databases known as the World Wide Web continues to grow, social and political concerns grow as well. Many are concerned that the expense and complexity of end-use computers suitable for WEB browsing is a formidable barrier to increased information access by disadvantaged millions, for which WEB access may be seen as a tool for empowerment and social and political advancement.
What is clearly needed is apparatus and methods whereby sophisticated operations like Web browsing and the like may be accomplished with small, battery-powered portable computers, such as hand-held computers, while also accomplishing a life-between-charges of a week or more, without requiring especially heavy batteries.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention a computing system is provided comprising a field computer comprising a display having a specific size and resolution; and a Proxy-Server connected to the field computer by a data link, the Proxy-Server having an Internet port. The Proxy-Server is adapted in this preferred embodiment to access Internet servers through the Internet port directed by commands and data received from the field computer, to download data from the Internet servers thus accessed, to transpose the downloaded data by reducing information density, and to transfer the transposed data to the field computer via the data link in a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) format.
A particular advantage in embodiments of the invention accrues in use of portable computers powered by electrical storage cell systems, such as by batteries of various sorts. In these embodiments functionality to battery life is significantly extended. Hand-held computers with computing power lower than one-hundred thousand instructions per second can be apparently fully functional Internet browsing tools, while enjoying battery life between charges of as much as two weeks, or more.
In various embodiments of the invention the Proxy-Server downloads data comprising WEB pages and transposes the data to match the specific size and resolution of the display of the field computer. The Proxy-Server may also accomplish caching functions in handling data from the Internet to a field computer coupled to the Proxy-Server.
Also in some preferred embodiments of the invention, when a field computer makes a data link with a Proxy-Server adapted according to embodiments of the invention, the field computer transfers to the Proxy-Server information particular to specific characteristics of the field computer, such as the size and resolution of the display of the field computer. The Proxy-Server then uses this information in transposing data for transfer to the field computer.
Various data links known in the art may be used for coupling field computers, such as battery-powered portable units, to a Proxy-Server according to embodiments of the invention. Among these links are telephone modems, both analog and digital, and cordless connections of various types.
Elements of the invention in various aspects can be provided separately to be generally compatible in operation. For example, Proxy-Servers adapted to perform the browsing and data transposing functions of embodiments of the invention, and adapted to transmit transposed files to connected field computers can be provided without adapted field computers. Moreover, field computers can be provided for end-users adapted for operation with Proxy-Servers, but may be provided separate from Proxy-Servers. Many existing computers, including those types generally known as personal organizers, digital assistants, and the like, may be adapted to cooperate with Proxy-Servers according to embodiments of the invention.
Further to the above, various items of software can also be provided according to and compatible with hardware devices and systems independently of the hardware devices and systems.
In practicing the invention, one""s adapted personal computer is coupled to a Proxy-Server over a data link such as a telephone modem, and may, according to an aspect of the invention, transfer specific information, such as the type, size, and resolution of the personal computer""s display, to the Proxy-Server. The Proxy-Server may then browse the World Wide Web according to instructions received from the personal computer, transpose files downloaded from the Web into a form quickly and easily usable by the personal computer, and transmit the transposed data to the personal computer for display. Very large files may become fewer files, and much smaller files in the transposition.
There are many benefits to be expected from practicing various embodiments of this invention. For example, low-end, hand-held computers, including such units known generally as personal organizers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), now become fully-functional Web browsers. This effect alone extends the use of the Web dramatically to people and institutions that might otherwise be excluded from the exponentially growing body of human knowledge available. The benefits extend to schoolrooms as well as to the homes of potential users. Accessibility is also significantly advanced for cultures and countries where such technology might not be available soon, or ever. There are many such social and cultural benefits. In addition, there are the clear benefits of power-saving, produced by the very efficient use of computing power at the Proxy-Servers of the invention, rather than at the computers in the field.
In addition, combination designs of televisions and computers, which are just being offered at the time of this patent application, could benefit from incorporation of features of this invention, wherein much of the computing load could be carried by a Proxy-Server, allowing simplicity and lower-end CPUs to be used at the TV apparatus. In alternative embodiments, computing power no longer needed could be used for other tasks, such as providing a soft-modem. Reduced file size in such applications will also provide faster loading, which will be important for some time to come, because analog phone lines will continue to be the principle carriers in the near future.